What does ‘at any cost,’ really mean?
John 3:16; ‘for God so loved the world, that He gave’. And gave and gave and gave. His giving was and is unparalleled; who else can give eternally? He continues to pour out His pure and eternal love to a world in need. Such generosity is impossible for us to comprehend. Because the generosity set within John 3:16 is wholly unique.
Many of us can speak at some level concerning being a receptacle of someone else’s generosity. I myself on many occasions have been such a beneficiary. Of course our first instinct is to relate to generosity as being financial. But it has many other facets; opportunity and forgiveness being two of them. The fact that our Heavenly Father is eternal means His generosity is also eternal. It continues as long as He exists, He will never run out of time, generosity or love.
The content of John 3:16 tell us that, “He gave His one and only begotten son.” He never gave us a ‘thing’, but a son. The following text tells us why! So that we could be invited to live where He lived and love as He loves. Surely, no other invitation could have cost so much in the history of the world.
The theology of the ‘Cross,’ is nothing less than awesome. Yet, the simplicity of the structure can never express the spiritual complexity or its profound effect on our world. It didn’t just happen; it wasn’t due to some local circumstances taking place in the City of Jerusalem. It wasn’t a knee jerk reaction to overcome a stumbling block. There was timing and planning involved, on a scale us as humans will never comprehend. As the time approached for a new covenant and a new age to break forth, there was but one motive, ‘victory at all cost.’
But what does the term ‘all cost’ look like? I sense whatever my own perspective is; my heavenly Fathers are very different. Only when we allow our minds to openly explore all the elements and phases of the crucifixion can we begin to contemplate what ‘at all cost’ actually looks like. But we are unlikely to ever know what it feels like.
Yet through His generosity of grace we can live in the knowledge that God was happy to pay the price. The ‘why’ is part of the mystery, while it’s appropriate to reflect, we should never allow ourselves to believe we know all there is to know. What we do know should impact us to the point of total surrender; however, there is much we still hold back, in spite of His overwhelming generosity. Why would God take the pain while watching the last drop of blood vacate the veins of His precious gift to our world? So that we can join Him in His holy dwelling!
We can never adequately express what the cost was. Even when we believe we are being poured out like a drink offering, we can cry out, “God have mercy on me.” But who did the Father cry out to when the blood of His begotten son was being drained from His precious body on a humiliating cross at Calvary?
The ‘at all cost’ is possibly summed up by His eternal love for all of us. A love that burns on so that we can live on! Our eternal life cost the Father eternal pain. Daily He lives with our rejection rather than our total submission. Yet the joy the Father must feel when another soul is saved from the fires of hell, somehow, makes perfect sense in His throne room and satisfies the cost. The ‘ALL’ was Jesus, the Father gave His ‘ALL’ so that we could have it ‘ALL.’
We seem to grasp the reality of the favour and the grace of God. But do we ever stop and ponder on the pain of God? There are many OT passages expressing Gods hurt due to man’s reluctance to fully commit to His ways. But to bring to mind the pain of God is the beginning of grasping the reality of the term, “at all cost.”
His pain will continue as long as man continues to seek alternatives to His only begotten son. Our part must surely be to share what we have received, that being, the love of Christ. We must do this until we find ourselves in His presence, in His dwelling place. We need to do this regardless of the cost!
Much love in Christ,
David Conlon
Pursuing Holiness
